M06 Error Handling
The m06-error-handling skill teaches Rust developers how to choose appropriate error handling strategies by distinguishing between expected failures, normal absence, and bugs—using Result, Option, panic, and crates like thiserror and anyhow. It's designed for developers writing both library and application code who need to decide when to propagate errors, return Options, panic, or add context to failures. The skill solves the problem of unclear error handling decisions by providing a decision framework that traces back to domain design and down to specific implementation patterns.
- skills.sh installs
- 827
- GitHub stars
- 1.3K
- last updated
- Jul 14, 2026
Install
$ npx -y skills add zhanghandong/rust-skills --skill m06-error-handling --agent claude-codeInstalls into .claude/skills of the current project.
Files
Error Handling
Layer 1: Language Mechanics
Core Question
Is this failure expected or a bug?
Before choosing error handling strategy:
- Can this fail in normal operation?
- Who should handle this failure?
- What context does the caller need?
Error → Design Question
| Pattern | Don't Just Say | Ask Instead |
|---|---|---|
| unwrap panics | "Use ?" | Is None/Err actually possible here? |
| Type mismatch on ? | "Use anyhow" | Are error types designed correctly? |
| Lost error context | "Add .context()" | What does the caller need to know? |
| Too many error variants | "Use Box" | Is error granularity right? |
Thinking Prompt
Before handling an error:
-
What kind of failure is this?
- Expected → Result<T, E>
- Absence normal → Option
- Bug/invariant → panic!
- Unrecoverable → panic!
-
Who handles this?
- Caller → propagate with ?
- Current function → match/if-let
- User → friendly error message
- Programmer → panic with message
-
What context is needed?
- Type of error → thiserror variants
- Call chain → anyhow::Context
- Debug info → anyhow or tracing
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- Repository
- github.com/zhanghandong/rust-skills
- Categories
- Debugging, Rust
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